UPDATE: Death by Judicial Fiat: Baby Joseph Will NOT Die Today!

They are taking my baby from me. Where is the humanity?

Baby Joseph Maraachli will NOT have his breathing tube removed by court order today, thanks to a change in legal counsel and the outcry of pro-life and anti-euthanasia activists. Doctors in Michigan have expressed a willingness to review his case, and he may be transferred to a hospital there very soon.  This is a blessed relief.  Please continue to pray for this child and his parents. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.- (Catholic Online) - UPDATE:  A report from LifeSiteNews gives the happy news that thanks to outcry from pro-life and anti-euthanasia activists, a change in legal counsel has resulted in a temporary stay of the court order to remove baby Joseph's breathing tube on Monday as originally planned.  Joseph may even be transferred to a hospital in Michigan soon.  Thank you to all who have prayed and made phone calls and sent emails on this child's behalf.  Please continue to pray for this little boy and his parents.

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Baby Joseph may die on Monday, February 21, 2011.  Despite his parents' desperate pleas to take him home, Superior Court judges in Ontario have ordered the infant's breathing tube removed.

Joseph Maraachli is one year-old and suffers from severe neurological conditions that have led doctors to pronounce him to be in a "vegetative state" with no chance of recovery.  His parents have been fighting in court for the right to take their little boy home where he can die peacefully, surrounded by his family, cradled in their love.  Their court battle ended last Thursday when the Superior Court ruled against them and ordered the child's breathing tube removed on Monday.

All his parents have asked for is a tracheotomy so they can take their son home to die there.  They have accepted his impending death; they simply do not want his death hastened or caused by drugs or the traumatic removal of his breathing tube.  They want to help him leave this world and enter into eternity in peace.  The Canadian court and the doctors treating Joseph have all decided it is "better" for him to be killed in the hospital.

Joseph's doctors refuse to do the tracheotomy citing the possible risk of infection or complications from the surgery. They won't take the chance that he might die from the surgery, but they will gladly make sure he dies by removing his breathing tube against his parents' wishes.

Nine years ago Joseph's parents lost their daughter to virtually the same health problems Joseph has, but in her case doctors performed the tracheotomy and they were allowed to take her home to die.  They simply want the same thing for their son.  They are not asking for extraordinary or unreasonable measures.

His father told LifeSiteNews, "Monday at 10:00 a.m. they will kill my baby.  There's no more humanity.  There's no more chance.  I've tried everything for him.  No more appeals, nothing.  I asked them, why not send him to Windsor and let him die at home?  They said they will give him injection, but I don't want to."

"I ask God, and maybe he breathe," he added.  "I do my best for my baby.  My son is not a criminal. to just let him die."

"They are taking my baby from me.  Where is the humanity?"

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, who has been communicating with the parents, says this makes no sense whatsoever.  "I don't get it.  There's nothing here I get.  It makes no sense.  What is in this for the hospital and doctors?  Why would they bother doing this?  Is it that they want to simply say, we have control?  If it's about their control, then we're in serious trouble.  They now control when someone lives and when someone dies, and who makes those decisions and how those decisions are made." 

Schadenberg said the court appears to be saying that hospitals and doctors can make decisions for patients whether they like it or not.  "It's worse than the death panel concept that's being debated in the U.S.  It really is, it's much worse.  They're saying, 'We will decide.' They're not even going to converse with you.  'We have the weight of the Court, we have the financial bearing of a massive government institution to be able to force this on you.'"

"That has serious repercussions, because you simply cannot trust the moral authority of the health care institution or doctors." 

The Vancouver Sun reports the doctors and judges in this case repeatedly insisting that this decision had to be made "in the child's best interest."  But how is it in Joseph's best interest to cause his death in this manner?   The judge said she "expects Joseph's hospital death to be "dignified" because palliative care can be provided after the tube is removed."

But palliative care after court-decreed oxygen deprivation is not the same thing as dignity.  His parents are simply asking that their son be afforded the real dignity of a peaceful death at home with them, without choking or suffocating or a lethal dose of morphine.  It is very disturbing that Joseph's death has been mandated, and his parents are left powerless to help their son.

This is death by judicial fiat.  This is what happens when doctors and courts treat human beings like animals, to be "put to sleep" in their own "best interests."

When asked how his family will prepare for the end, Joseph's father said, "I don't know.  I can't tell you anything about Monday.  But I will stay with him until the last moment.  And hopefully, I will go with him."

Please keep little Joseph and his parents and family in your prayers tonight.  Canadian authority contact information is listed below - please call or email on Joseph's behalf and ask the court and the hospital to stop this madness.

Canadian authority contact information:
Bonnie Adamson
President and CEO, London Health Sciences Centre
800 Commissioners Road East
London, Ontario Canada N6A 5W9
Phone: 519-685-8462
E-mail: bonnie.adamson@lhsc.on.ca
Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
Fax: (416) 325-3745

Tim Hudak, Opposition Leader
The Ontario PC Party
19 Duncan Street
Suite 401
Toronto, ON M5H 3H1
Phone: 416-861-0020
Toll-free: 1-800-903-6453
Fax: 416-861-9593
Email: tim.hudakco@pc.ola.org

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Jennifer Hartline is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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